No, it was not a fad. MX 2002 featuring Ricky Carmichael is the sequel to last year's killer title reviewed right here in these pages. Last year, I reviewed the 2001 edition of this game for the Game Boy Color and if you recall, I loved it, comparing this game to my favorite racing title Pole Position from long ago. OK, Pole Position didn't have cool tricks, but I didn't like this extreme title for the tricks. I enjoyed it for the racing, superior graphics and wonderful replay value.
MX 2002 features more than 20 death-defying tricks, 30 professional riders, and fast intense competition. You can compete on motocross, supercross, amateur and freestyle tracks and try your luck at the championship or even the THQ U.S. Open. Professionals perform their own signature moves and the game really captures the experience of dirt racing, without all that mess that is just so hard to cleanup after. This game has it all, the most complete racing experience ever. Well, now that I got the company line out of the way, let me tell you how I really feel.
Graphics-Rating a 6: The graphics of the first game were superior to other Game Boy Color titles. Looking at some of the games for the Game Boy Advance, MX 2002 does not continue its role as a graphically superior title. The bikers look cool and the tracks are nice, but the shadowing pissed me off at times and hurt me in the race. I couldn't tell if I was going the right way or off the road, leading me to slow down or crash my bike. Needless to say, that hurt my chances of winning.
Sound-Rating a 10: I like the sounds of the bikes and I think the background music waqs bumpy, perfect for getting into a race. I still think attachments like Song Pro should be used to port MP3's into Game Boy titles. When will we be able to hear regular music on the Game Boy, like Rob Zombie or something?
Controls-Rating a 8: I still can't get a hang of doing the tricks and it is hard to get used to having to use the shoulder buttons along with all the other buttons. But I have gotten a lot better and the controls aren't what makes doing tricks hard. I just have never been good at doing them. Everything is pretty self explanatory with this game. You pick up the controls right from the start of play.
Gameplay-Rating a 10: This is the reason why this game is great. Dude, you can fix your bike and tune it up before that big race in the wet dirt. Yep, you can still change track conditions, which is awesome and you can compete in so many different tracks, that the fun never ends. I also like the fact that they fixed a major problem I had with the game last year. When you crashed in the last game, no matter how perfect you thought you were doing until that crash, all of your opponents miraculously passed you by and you couldn't catch back up. Yes they still pass you by, but you can pass them right back again. The opponent is not so perfect this time around and they make mistakes and crash, too. The only two things I didn't like about this game are that there is no link cable support so you are only playing by yourself and not against friends and that there is also the annoying feature of having to enter codes to load a game. That sucks. Other than that, this game is mad fun to play and there is nothing complicated about it, as long as you watch out for those dark areas that lead you off track. Can we really blame the game for that or the Game Boy Advance's screen that makes it virtually impossible to see anything unless you buy one of their nifty add-ons? Get a worm light or something and everything should be fine.
Replay Value-Rating a 10: This is a racing game. You think you won the tournament, but it took a real long time to do it, because once you make a mistake, you could easily win the race. You just don't figure things out and become a pro here. It is always a challenge. Hell, I still lose at Pole Position from time to time. This is the kind of game that you don't really lose interest in. I still play last year's version.
Overall: Buy this game. It is one of those games that doesn't take much thought to play or time for that matter. It is just a fun exhilarating ride in the extreme world. You don't even need Ricky Carmichael's name to sell this game. The game sells itself.
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